UKRAINE:Ukraine's political crisis grew even murkier yesterday when judges from the constitutional court asked for bodyguards and said they were under too much political pressure to make a ruling that could decide who wins the power struggle between president and prime minister.
The 18-member court was due to start deliberating today on the legality of president Viktor Yushchenko's decision to dissolve parliament and call snap elections, which prime minister Viktor Yanukovich says were unconstitutional moves aimed at sidelining him and usurping the legislature.
But the court postponed the case until April 17th, after five judges issued a statement requesting bodyguards and complaining of "clear public threats . . . and pressure aimed at intimidating , influencing their activity for political aims and securing favourable decisions".
Certain passages of the statement suggested that the judges blame Mr Yanukovich for the interference, and they alleged that he announced the resignation of the head of the court last week before he had publicly declared his intention to step down. His fellow judges rejected his resignation.
A party allied to the president openly accused Mr Yanukovich of applying the pressure and forcing the head of the court to resign, while the premier's supporters noted that the judges who complained yesterday were appointed by Mr Yushchenko, and suggested they were part of a smear campaign against the prime minister.
The two men have been at loggerheads since late 2004, when the so-called Orange Revolution cancelled Mr Yanukovich's fraudulent presidential election "victory" and swept Mr Yushchenko to power.
Bitter in-fighting among the president's pro-western team has allowed Mr Yanukovich and his more Russia-friendly allies to mount a strong comeback, however.
Several thousand of Mr Yanukovich's supporters rallied again in Kiev yesterday, and rejected the planned May 27th election.
